The Vatican Information Service is a news service, founded in the Holy See Press Office, that provides information about the Magisterium and the pastoral activities of the Holy Father and the Roman Curia...[+]

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Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Vatican City, 21 March 2012 (VIS) - Benedict XVI is due to make an apostolic trip to Mexico and Cuba from 23 to 29 March, to mark the two hundredth anniversary of the independence of Mexico, and the four hundredth of the discovery of the image of "Nuestra Senora de la Caridad del Cobre" in Cuba. For the occasion statistics have been published concerning the Catholic Church in those two countries. The information, updated to 31 December 2010, comes from the Central Statistical Office of the Church.

Mexico has a surface area of 1,958,201 square kilometres and a population of 108,426,000, of whom 99,635,000 (91.89 percent) are Catholic. There are 93 ecclesiastical circumscriptions, 6,744 parishes and 7,169 pastoral centres of other kinds. Currently, there are 163 bishops, 16,234 priests, 30,023 religious, 505 members of secular institutes, 25,846 lay missionaries and 295,462 catechists. Minor seminarians number 4,524 and major seminarians 6,495.

A total of 1,856,735 students attend 8,991 centres of Catholic education of all levels and 1,822 special education centres. Other institutions belonging to the Church or run by priests or religious in Mexico include 257 hospitals, 1,602 clinics, 8 leper colonies, 372 homes for the elderly or disabled, 329 orphanages and nurseries, 2,134 family counselling centres and other pro-life centres, and 340 institutions of other kinds.

Cuba has a surface area of 110,861 square kilometres and a population of 11,242,000, of whom 6,766,000 (60.19 percent) are Catholic. There are 11 ecclesiastical circumscriptions, 304 parishes and 2,210 pastoral centres of other kinds. Currently, there are 17 bishops, 361 priests, 656 religious, 24 members of secular institutes, 2,122 lay missionaries and 4,133 catechists. Minor seminarians number 13 and major seminarians 78.

A total of 1,113 students attend 12 centres of Catholic education of all levels and 10 special education centres. Other institutions belonging to the Church or run by priests or religious in Cuba include 2 clinics, 1 leper colony, 8 homes for the elderly or disabled, 3 orphanages and nurseries, and 3 institutions of other kinds.

- As members of the Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care: Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier O.F.M., archbishop of Durban, South Africa, and Bishop Walter Mixa, emeritus of Augsburg, Germany.

- As consultors of the Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care: Bishop Joachim Ntahondereye of Muyinga, Burundi; Orochi Samuel Orach, director of the National Office for Health Pastoral Care in Uganda; Stefano Ojetti, vice president of the Italian Association of Catholic Doctors, and Salvatore Pagliuca, vice president of UNITALSI (Italian National Union for Transport of the Sick to Lourdes and International Shrines).

- Fr. Jose Luiz Gomes de Vasconcelos of the clergy of the diocese of Garanhuns, Brazil, rector of the interdiocesan seminary of Caruaru, as auxiliary of the archdiocese of Fortaleza (area 14,813, population 3,622,000, Catholics 2,562,000, priests 332, permanent deacons 19, religious 1,144), Brazil. The bishop-elect was born in Garanhuns in 1963 and ordained a priest in 1989. He studied in Rome before returning to Brazil where he has worked in pastoral care and education.

- Fr. Giovanni Crippa I.M.C., teacher and pastor in the archdiocese of Feira de Santana, Brazil, as auxiliary of the archdiocese of Sao Salvador da Bahia (area 3,859, population 3,210,878, Catholics 2,284,477, priests 283, permanent deacons 93, religious 1,070), Brazil. The bishop-elect was born in Besana Brianzana, Italy in 1958 and ordained a priest in 1985. He was active in missionary formation in Turin and Rome before moving to Brazil in 2000 where he has worked as a pastor and seminary professor.